For almost half a century, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) was one of the leading bodies in world darts. Founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, it grew into the organisation behind a World Championship that brought together the sport's very best for many years. But after years of mismanagement, the wheels came off in 2020 and the organisation was wound up. In September 2020, an organisation that had shaped the sport for 47 years came to an end.
Legends such as Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor made their names in an era when the BDO played a central role in international darts. Yet behind the success and historic finals lay a story of conflict, missed opportunities and a rival that kept growing stronger. The creation of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in the 1990s changed the sport forever. As the PDC became the commercial face of professional darts, the BDO gradually lost its biggest stars, its television coverage and, ultimately, its financial clout.
Croft founded the BDO on 7 January 1973, wanting to professionalise the sport's administration and better coordinate its competitions and regional structures. Before the BDO, British darts was largely organised by the National Darts Association of Great Britain (NDAGB). The BDO gradually grew into an organisation with 66 affiliated counties, organising competitions for amateur players, semi-professionals and juniors. It established the standard dartboard dimensions and throwing distance still used today, and was one of the founding members of the World Darts Federation (WDF), formed in 1976. A major milestone came in 1978, when the BDO staged the first World Professional Darts Championship at the Heart of the Midlands Club in Nottingham, where Welshman Leighton Rees beat John Lowe 11–7 in legs in the final to become world champion, receiving £3,000 for his title while runner-up Lowe had to settle for just over half that amount.
The tournament then moved to Stoke-on-Trent, where Eric Bristow won the first three of his eventual five world titles. In 1986, the World Championship moved to the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, a venue that would remain synonymous with the tournament for more than three decades. Thanks to sponsorship from tobacco brand Embassy, the tournament was known for many years as the Embassy World Professional Darts Championship, a partnership that lasted until 2003 when tobacco advertising was banned at sporting events in the United Kingdom. From 2004, the event became known as the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship. The World Masters, first held in 1974, also became a major tournament and, alongside the World Championship, formed one of the pillars of the BDO calendar.
During the 1970s and 1980s, darts became a popular television sport, with names such as Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Jocky Wilson becoming icons. Bristow, nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", won three titles at the West Midlands Club before claiming two more world titles at Lakeside. Lowe was known for his calm demeanour and outstanding technique, while players such as Bob Anderson, Dennis Priestley and, later, Phil Taylor also played important roles in darts history. Taylor won his first two world titles with the BDO, then claimed another 14 with the PDC to become the record holder. Yet by the end of the 1980s, darts had largely disappeared from major British television channels, leaving the World Championship as the main event left on screen.
Players grew increasingly dissatisfied, feeling too little was being done to create new tournaments, attract sponsors and expand professional opportunities. In January 1992, a group of 16 professional players founded the World Darts Council (WDC), among them almost all the former world champions still competing. The conflict escalated in January 1993, when the rebels announced they would enter the 1994 World Championship only if it was staged under the WDC banner. The BDO responded by banning them from its tournaments. The 1993 World Championship was the last to feature all the top players together, with John Lowe winning his third and final world title by beating Alan Warriner in the final. From 1994 onwards, the two organisations each staged their own World Championship. The WDC later changed its name to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
After the split, the BDO kept its existing tournaments, county structure and World Championship at Lakeside, while the PDC began investing in a larger professional circuit. The gap between the two organisations gradually widened. The BDO still developed talent, but that created a structural problem: it developed players who left for its rival as soon as they had the chance. One of the best-known examples was Raymond van Barneveld, who won four world titles with the BDO and helped make darts hugely popular in the Netherlands before joining the PDC in 2006. A year later, Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort were among those who followed. Gary Anderson, Mark Webster, Simon Whitlock and Robert Thornton all left the BDO at different times, while Stephen Bunting followed in 2014, having recently become BDO world champion. In 2019, Glen Durrant made the same choice after winning three consecutive BDO world titles.
A major shift in power came in 2011, when at the BDO's annual general meeting almost all the sitting board members lost their positions and Croft was also forced out, ending his time as the organisation's dominant figure. Another major blow came in 2016, when the BBC decided not to continue its partnership with the BDO World Championship, ending a 38-year relationship and shifting its darts coverage to a new PDC event, the Champions League of Darts. After the BBC's departure, the 2017 and 2018 editions were shown on Channel 4 and BT Sport, and from 2019 the tournament aired on Quest and Eurosport.
The problems mounted further in 2019. At the World Masters, changes to the qualifying process caused confusion among players, with some competitors not registered correctly and others unaware of the new requirements, while the draw was chaotic with names included that did not match actual participants. The WDF responded by downgrading the BDO to associate-member status and announcing that it would no longer recognise BDO tournaments, citing rule violations and changes to the draw during the competition. The BDO also failed to find a new sponsor for the 2020 World Championship, and ticket sales fell far short of expectations. The organisation had also decided to move the World Championship away from Lakeside after 33 years, with the 2020 edition relocated to the Indigo at London's O2 complex.
Shortly before the 2020 tournament began, chairman Des Jacklin announced that the prize money had to be cut substantially. Wayne Warren won the men's title but received just £23,000 for his world championship, a drop of around 77 per cent from the winner's prize a year earlier. By comparison, Peter Wright earned £500,000 by winning the 2020 PDC World Championship. Fallon Sherrock, who had made history in 2019 by winning two matches at the PDC World Championship, withdrew from the BDO tournament in protest at the prize-money cut. Wayne Warren beat fellow Welshman Jim Williams in the final, making history as the last BDO men's world champion.
In March 2020, Jacklin announced his resignation as director, chairman and managing director, having already warned about the consequences of poor ticket sales and the lack of sponsorship income. Barely a month later, Jacklin was back in charge. In September 2020, the BDO was finally placed into liquidation, bringing to an end, after 47 years, the organisation founded by Olly Croft in 1973. The United Kingdom Darts Association (UKDA) took on an important role in organising county darts, while the WDF continued to run international competitions and later staged its own World Championship again.
The BDO, and especially the World Championship at Lakeside, produced many historic matches. In the 1992 World Championship final between Phil Taylor and Mike Gregory, the match went to a deciding 11th set where a tie-break would settle the contest. Gregory missed two match darts at double 8, then two at tops, followed by another two at double 10, becoming the first player to miss match darts at a double in a World Championship final and still lose the title. It happened again only in 2018, when Mark McGeeney also failed to take his chances against Glen Durrant in the BDO World Championship final. Taylor forced a sudden-death leg and came out on top to win his second world title, his 97.58 average in the final remaining a record for a BDO World Championship final until the tournament ended in 2020.
The 2006 World Championship final was the first and, to date, only all-Dutch final at the BDO World Championship, as well as the only all-Dutch final at a darts World Championship. Raymond van Barneveld faced the 21-year-old Jelle Klaasen, who produced a huge upset on his Lakeside debut, beating the experienced world champion 7–5 in sets. Klaasen's victory made history: after Van Barneveld, he became only the second Dutchman to win the BDO world title. Christian Kist joined them in 2012, beating Tony O'Shea 7–5 in the final to become the third Dutch winner. For Van Barneveld, the defeat marked the end of an era: it was his final BDO World Championship appearance.
A year later, Lakeside staged a final that went down in history as one of the most extraordinary matches ever seen at the BDO World Championship. Martin Adams faced Phil Nixon in 2007 and built a commanding 6–0 lead in sets. Nixon mounted a phenomenal comeback, fighting his way back set by set to level the match at 6–6. Adams, though, managed to keep his nerve when it mattered, finding the edge in the final set to secure his first world title. Adams would go on to win two more world titles, in 2010 and 2011.
The BDO's history cannot be summed up as a story of failure alone. For almost half a century, the organisation made a fundamental contribution to the development of darts, establishing the first professional World Championship, helping standardise the rules and giving generations of players the chance to prove themselves at the highest level. At the same time, its collapse shows the danger of a sports organisation failing to adapt to changes in the market. The split in the 1990s was the decisive turning point. The BDO is gone, but its influence remains visible: the World Championship tradition, the memories of Lakeside and the careers of countless champions are all part of darts history.
